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Junior big man Trent Wiedeman (Suwanee, Ga.) came off the bench and registered his second double-double of the season with a team-high 16 points and 10 rebounds as College of Charleston survived a hard-fought 71-68 win on the road at Chattanooga on Feb. 9 at McKenzie Arena.

The Cougars (18-7, 10-3 SoCon) won their sixth in a row and recorded their fifth consecutive 10-win campaign in Southern Conference play – the first in the Doug Wojcik Era.

It didn’t come easy as the Mocs (9-15, 4-7 SoCon) looked to avenge both teams’ last meeting where CofC turned in its highest-scoring output of the season in an 86-59 rout on Jan. 12 at TD Arena.

In the first eight minutes of the ballgame, it would be a see-saw battle where neither team could pull away from each other with more than a four-point lead. A layup by senior point guard Andrew Lawrence (London, England) put the Cougars up by as many as seven, 29-22, at the 6:24 minute mark, but Z. Mason would score eight of his 17 first-half points in the final stretch of the half to keep Chattanooga in striking distance.

Sophomore guard Anthony Stitt (Charlotte, N.C.) knocked down a three-pointer with eight seconds left to send the Cougars into the locker room with a 36-35 advantage.

CofC controlled the better part of the second half until its lead was chipped away again by three-pointers from Mason including a trey with 12:55 remaining to put UTC out in front, 54-53.

Five lead changes would follow and a dunk and a reverse layup by Wiedeman in the last three minutes of the contest helped secure the team’s ninth road win of the season.

Chattanooga’s Ronrico White, whose older brother Tony White, Jr., starred for the Cougars from 2006-10, drained a three-pointer with 1:05 left on the clock to get UTC within two, 68-66, but for the second-straight game, junior reserve guard/forward Nori Johnson (Greer, S.C.) stepped up defensively and got a steal which led to him being fouled and making two free throws to add the cushion.

Mason led all scorers with a game-and career-high 27 points, while Lawrence and Stitt each had 13 for CofC. Junior small forward Anthony Thomas (Winston-Salem, N.C.) was the fourth Cougar in double figures with 10 points.